Address of welcome, delivered to the Kansas National Guard, at
Topeka, September 29, 1885.
SOLDIERS OF THE KANSAS NATIONAL GUARD: In a recent story by a well-known
American author, the characters engage in an after-dinner discussion
concerning the war of the Rebellion, and one of them remarks that the
astonishing fact connected with it was the superabundance of heroism it
revealed. Then he asks his son: “How many young men do you know who
would think it sweet to die for their country?” Very modestly the young
man replies: “I can’t think of a great many at the moment, sir.”
Whereupon, his uncle, a gallant soldier during the war, says: “Nor could
I in 1861; nevertheless they were there.”
The occasion is wanting now, but as “they were there” in 1861, so I have
faith to believe that any great cause would find them now. I can
remember hearing dolorous orators, in the years just preceding the
outbreak of the Rebellion, bewailing the degeneracy of the times, and
declaring that heroism and patriotism were things of the past. The flash
of the gun at Sumter revealed not only the Nation’s peril, but its
strength and glory. In a month, farms and workshops were deserted, and
the peaceful North, transfigured by the splendor of its passion, became
a Nation of warriors.
In the story to which I have already referred, one of the characters,
after quietly telling an incident of a desperate battle, in which his
regiment sustained a severe loss, says, with intense feeling: “I don’t
want to see any more men killed in my time.” This sentiment will, I feel
confident, be approved by every soldier of the late war. Certainly, I
hope that no occasion for calling the “Kansas National Guard” into
active service may ever arise. But I am sure that if such an occasion
did come, you would be equal to its duties and its responsibilities.
Some of you know what war is. You learned it on fields where the earth
trembled with the shock of contending hosts. Most, if not all of you,
have in your veins the blood of men who were soldiers and heroes. And I
am confident that, if you were called upon in any emergency demanding an
illustration of true soldierly qualities, you would prove yourselves
worthy successors of the men of 1861–5.
I hope you will continue to maintain an efficient organization. I
congratulate you on the proficiency you have already attained in drill
and discipline. This year, for the first time, the State has made some
provision for maintaining a well-organized military force, and this
encouragement ought to increase your interest in the organizations to
which you belong, and your activity in discharging your duties as
members of the Kansas National Guard. The instruction you receive as
soldiers, the drill and discipline to which you subject yourselves, are
not without their uses, even in times of profound peace. Every man who
has been drilled as a soldier is physically benefited by such exercise;
and the lessons of obedience, of respect for law, of promptness in the
discharge of duty, of faithfulness, patriotism and courage, that are the
inspiration of soldierly conduct—these lessons will be of value to you
in every relation of life.
It gives me pleasure to meet you. I trust your brief sojourn in camp
will be not only instructive, but pleasant, to one and all of you. Your
general officers are all trained and experienced soldiers, who served
their country faithfully and honorably in time of war, and your Major
General left a leg on one of the battle-fields of the late civil war.
Many of your field and line officers are also experienced soldiers. They
are thus thoroughly qualified, by habits and education, to instruct you
in your duties, and I have no doubt they will take pride and pleasure in
doing so.
And now, soldiers of the National Guard, remember that you are here on
duty. Be prompt in responding to every order; preserve discipline in
your camp; and so conduct yourselves, when absent from it, as to bring
no reproach on the uniform you wear. You voluntarily put it on. Try to
honor it by the manliness of sobriety; by the grace and pride of duty
faithfully performed; and by the walk and conduct of a true soldier,
who, honoring the badge of his service, never fails to honor himself.